Category Archives: OC Register

In a 7:53pm post on their website tonight, Freedom Communications and the Orange County Register have announced the replacement of their publisher, Aaron Kushner, with a Las Vegas casino marketing executive who has no newspaper experience. Their lead:

Richard Mirman, a former executive at Harrah’s Entertainment known in Las Vegas for his talents in casino marketing, has been named interim publisher and chief executive of the Orange County Register.

Kushner will remain in charge of their Opinion section which was weakened long ago by the departures of Steve Greenhut, Cathy Taylor, John Seiler and the death of Alan Bock — so inept and inconsequential Brian Calle, if he’s still with the company, has a new boss.

Mirman has an investment in Freedom and is clearly there to right the ship and salvage his money. Kushner has failed with the long-time Orange County “paper of record” and inadvisedly invested in other news ventures in Long Beach, Los Angeles and the Inland Empire.

The Register has laid off an army of long-time employees and has recently been hammered in this Blog, at the OC Weekly and other social media outlets for the still ongoing disaster in failing to deliver the paper to its subscribers (I am one, and have received one on-time delivery in the last 11 12 days).

The owners of the Orange County Register have relisted for sale 14.3 acres of land that surrounds the company’s headquarters in Santa Ana. Freedom Communications Inc. is hoping to make $45 million or more on the land sale, which follows last month’s $27 million sale of the paper’s 173,000-square-foot office at 625 N. Grand Avenue.

When/if this transaction goes thru, there’s no word on what Kushner would do with the cash — hopefully, he’ll pay his delivery people — we’ve seen all of ONE paper here in the last seven calendar days.

As we reported in September, the Times decided to stop distributing the now-defunct Los Angeles Register and the OC edition because of the unpaid bills…Today…the Times spelled out in exacting detail their claims against Kushner: that he owes them at least $3.5 million in unpaid bills, that the Kush is violating the contract that he had with the Times by having the Register distributed by another carrier, and that they want their money–or else.

One More Nail in the Coffin

The Orange County Register failed today to deliver an unknown number of papers to its subscription base. Yesterday was the last day that the LA Times delivered both its own paper and the Register in Orange County.

The Los Angeles Register, which launched in April as part Aaron Kushner’s bold bet on print newspapers, will cease publication, effective immediately. Orange County Register co-owner Aaron Kushner announced the decision Monday night in a memo sent to employees. “Pundits and local competitors who have closely followed our entry into Los Angeles will be quick to criticize our decision to launch a new newspaper and they will say that we failed,” said the memo, signed by Kushner and his Freedom Communications co-owner Eric Spitz.

We know the Orange County Register’s been swirling the bowl for some time, so it’s refreshing to see their Editorial staff get one right once in a while, and on a local issue and especially when they’re taking a Libertarian stance for a FREE MARKET. Unfortunately, they didn’t mention the principal in this editorial from yesterday, but there’s still some comfort to be had among who’s left in their R. C. Hoiles following: H.B. council right to keep rent control off ballot.

Their lead,

In a surprising reversal, the Huntington Beach City Council voted rightfully Monday to remove a ballot measure that would have asked voters to allow them to place rent controls on mobile home parks in the city. The council voted 4-3 in July to place the measure on the November ballot, but in another 4-3 vote this week the council overturned that decision. Switching their original positions, Council members Jill Hardy and Jim Katapodis voted to remove the ordinance, while Councilman Dave Sullivan voted to keep it. Mr. Sullivan originally voted against placing the measure on the ballot because he disagreed with changes. Continue reading→